RUSSELL Earnshaw has confidence his Bees forwards can produce another Herculean effort just five days after their last.

The Damson Park outfit travel to Meadow Lane tonight to face a Nottingham side who beat them 41-28 when the teams met earlier this season. They do so on the back of a very positive first 30-minute showing against Bedford last Sunday but also having let the Blues dictate the final hour, resulting in a disappointing home defeat.

Earnshaw felt his side looked tired midway through that game but has seen enough from his men in training this week to believe the same players can produce the sort of energetic performance they will need to cope with free-flowing Nottingham.

“We have done a little bit more analysis this week but we’ve still had our three sessions in the cold, wind and rain so the turnaround hasn’t affected us too badly,” the director of rugby said.

“The guys who are playing are pretty durable and we are getting some decent consistency out of our forwards so we’ll just look to carry that on.”

The two changes Earnshaw is pondering come in the backs where he has yet to find the right centre partnership to complement the incisive incursions of full-back Tom Foden and try machine Simon Hunt.

Ngalu Tau will lead the side once again in the absence of club captain Matt Long and regular tighthead Leo Halavatau.